Even worse news for Bennigan’s…

Hundreds of Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale restaurants across the country will not open today.

Phones went unanswered this morning at several Houston locations and others had been disconnected.

Plano-based MetroMedia Restaurant Group confirmed that its subsidiary, S&A Restaurant Corp., has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. All corporate locations of its well-known storefronts, including Bennigan’s, Steak & Ale and Tavern, will be shuttered for good.

Company spokeswoman Leah Templeton said franchised locations should not be affected, and it could not be determined immediately which of the Houston-area’s 11 Bennigan’s and six Steak & Ale locations will remain open.

Well, this is a drag. Granted, the only Bennigan’s restaurants I go to nowadays are the ones by the office and by the Galleria, but I have to say they had my favorite quesadillas, and I always loved their John Bacon’s burgers. Of course, since going on this diet/lifestyle change, I haven’t had much chance to have either of those recently. I don’t know if either of those restaurants are affected, but we’ll see what happens.

UPDATE – 2:20 PM – Well, according to one of my coworkers, the Bennigan’s by the office is one of the locations that closed. Ah, well… on the other hand, I realized earlier that there is one other location I’ll miss: the Villahermosa one, as that was one of the few places I’ve eaten at while in Mexico. Ah, well… hopefully it is a franchised location, but we’ll see…